Thursday, October 1, 2009

Oh, such a great movie, and if you haven’t seen it, shame on you. There’s an attraction to being the bad guy; there always has been. Movies and games are a means to escape the every day, and being able to identify with the opposite side of the tracks is what makes media such as Goodfellas, The Godfather, Grand Theft Auto, and Saint’s Row so popular. However, none of these have ever had much of a social element to them (save for maybe the latest renditions of GTA and Saint’s Row). Social “bad guy” games are currently reserved for social networks, and with over a million monthly users, Mob Wars is a title in which you can not only rise through the ranks of the mob, but do so with plenty of friends.

The question is: How do you get up there? How do you make all that money? Well, while it may all be water under the bridge for the more veteran players, but there are some pretty good tips for players from levels 1-20 and how to get started. Alarmingly, these game tips are rather close to reality, so even if you don’t play the game, you might find some other uses.

Rule #1 of successful mobbing: Invest early and often as this will be your primary bankroll. That said, managing your finances early on is critical. While it may seem obvious you have to be very careful with what you purchase and should never buy more than what you absolutely need. Try not to be too frivolous and resist the urge to buy some of the really cool toys. You won’t need it for a long time (i.e. an armored Humvee). These items may be good, but they’re also expensive to upkeep and you can’t afford that risk yet. By the same token, however, you do want to spend a little extra on all real estate.

Never, ever buy it one item at a time. The game implements an increasing cost mechanic every time you make a purchase, so you want to buy real estate in sets of 10 so they cost less in the long run. Buying in bulk is almost always cheaper regardless of where you are in life. However, if you cannot afford a full set of 10, just be patient until you can. By no means should you sell smaller real estate in order to buy bigger ones as you will, once again, loose money. Cubicle Denizen has a pretty good spreadsheet that can help you find the best investments with the highest return if you want more details.

Okay, so now you know how to make the wisest investments, but how do you get that extra money? Well, for starters, you can hunt for what are called “pigeons” or players that don’t bank their money. Obviously, the game isn’t meant to be played constantly, so at one point or another everyone is a pigeon at some point, the trick is to find them. It may seem cruel to clean them out, but that’s one of the ways the game is played, and it’s a quick way to earn a ton of cash. However, take precautions against being one yourself. You have to boost your defensive stats early and often so you won’t have to worry about banking quite as much. If they are high enough, while you may still get beaten and killed, you won’t have to concern yourself with losing too much (if any) of your hard “earned” cash.

So what stops them from doing the same thing to you? Nothing, but that’s not the only way to get significant cash. Now it comes down to play style. There are two methods to utilize here, one is to make more friends and build your mob, but the other is to fight, fight, fight, which sounds a lot more fun. Fighting is one of the faster ways to get money, and due to the high rate of regeneration, you probably won’t need to add more than three stamina until later levels.

However, you still have to pick your targets wisely. Here’s a compound trick in finding a good target: First, look for anyone that has a casino on their property as that means they’ve got plenty of income to “share” with you. Next, find one that has lost a lot. Sound unlikely? Not really. Such a target is most likely a “clone account” on Facebook, which means they will most likely not defend their boss, and in turn, earns you around $70,000 each attack. At this point, save the link and repeat attacks until they go to the hospital (of course, make sure your weapons are enough to win first).

That leads to one final tip: If you ever find yourself in the hospital, take advantage of it. You know how when you play Monopoly and everyone has hotels up? Where is the best place to be? That’s right, jail. You run no risk of losing money while in there. The same goes for the hospital. You can still do business there, and at worst, get punched in the face, but you can’t be attacked, so keep that in mind.

So there you have it. While it may not help the most advanced players, this should be enough to get you a decent start. Invest wisely, spend wisely, search for pigeons and clones, and always take advantage of the hospital. While it may not make you The Godfather, it can put you that much closer. There are also some very interesting discussions, such as this one, on the web regarding strategy and further tips for improving your mob. Good luck, and happy mobbing.